• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, July 24, 2012

We all know there's too much display advertising inventory out there.  But advertisers might not realize how much of the low-quality inventory is, in fact, completely worthless -- because no one is looking at it. According to Mike Rich, VP, media, for ComScore, a recent study of display ads placed by major brand advertisers found that 31% of the display ads in the U.S. were never seen; the number was 37% in the EU. That's 800 million impressions that were served (and paid for) but not seen. Furthermore, basic viewability of ads on premium sites was 77% in U.S., 66% in EU.  Of course, the numbers only went down from there, across less-premium sites.